Currently, it is now common practice to provide rooms of hotels, substantially of any category, with small refrigerators, generally known as minibars, in which beverages and/or liqueurs, and optionally foodstuffs such as confectionery or the like, are stored and are thus made available to the occupants of the room.
According to a known constructive solution, the desired temperature of the compartment inside the minibar in which the beverages and foodstuffs are to be accommodated is achieved by using a compressor; this compressor is activated for example by a thermostat when a given temperature limit is exceeded and is deactivated when the desired temperature is restored.
However, noise is associated with the operation of the compressor and is generated by the compressor itself and can annoy the people who are present in the room, particularly during night hours, if the thermostat detects an increase in the internal temperature of the compartment, with consequent activation of the compressor.
The drawback described above is partially remedied by constructive solutions which resort to devices such as timers or the like, by means of which cycles for switching on and off at preset times are predefined.
In this manner, for example, it is possible to provide for activation of the compressor only during daytime, to ensure absence of noise during the night, optionally inserting in the minibar a heat accumulator, which is also cooled by the compressor and is capable of removing heat once the compressor is deactivated in order to further defer the moment when such compressor switches on again.
It is evident that this solution cannot be deemed satisfactory, since it is not possible to establish beforehand at what times during the day the room is actually free of its occupants, who might instead dwell in the room during the very hours programmed for compressor power-on and operation.